Five men were injured in a series of suspected Islamophobic attacks in Edinburgh on Friday night as a bare-chested man armed with a large weapon roamed the streets, smashing windows and battering doors before being detained by police.
The attacks began near the Broomhouse mosque in the west of the city, where two men were injured, the BBC understands. All five victims – aged 22, 22, 24, 27 and 39 – were taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with injuries not believed to be life-threatening. MEND Scotland, a Muslim engagement group, said several of the victims were from the Muslim community.
“Five men were injured in suspected Islamophobic attacks across Edinburgh as a bare-chested man with a weapon went on a rampage.”
Police were first called at about 20:50 and responded to what they described as a “fast-moving sequence of events”. Footage posted on social media shows the same bare-chested man vandalising a Shell petrol station on Telford Road, where a taxi had its windows smashed and a hand axe was seen on the seat. At a BP petrol station on Ferry Road, he entered the kiosk and pushed over shelves, scattering items as members of the public fled.
The man then approached the Origano pizzeria on Leith Walk, where staff closed electronic shutters as he repeatedly struck the door panes with his weapon. Another video shows a topless man with a weapon approaching a car stopped at a junction. A heavy police presence and cordon were seen around a Your Move estate agent, where paramedics treated a man with his arm in a sling.
In footage showing the arrest, an officer can be seen holding the topless man on the ground as he shouts that he is “protecting the country”. Officers equipped with Tasers confronted and detained the man – a 36-year-old white man – without discharging the devices. He remains in custody. Counter-terrorism officers have joined local Police Scotland colleagues in the ongoing investigation.
Assistant Chief Constable Catriona Paton called the events a “shocking attack” and said: “I want to send a clear message … there is no place for racism or faith-based hate in Scotland.”